Chapter 126 If you have...
Seeing that she couldn't persuade her master, Guard Fang immediately turned to Fu Jun for help, her anxiety evident in her eyes.
Fu Yun also felt that Zhilan shouldn't take such a risk by going there. After all, these refugees weren't from Lingzhou City, and it was hard to guarantee that there weren't a few of them taking advantage of the situation.
If an assassin were hiding among the refugees, it would be impossible to guard against them.
Zhilan had just taken two steps when Fu Jun quickly said, "Wait a minute."
Zhilan paused, her gaze turning cold as she glanced at Fu Jun: "You want to stop me too?"
Fu Yun shook her head: "Of course not."
Zhilan asked, puzzled, "Why is that?"
Fu Yun explained, “We can’t just ignore a situation where there is public outrage, but we can’t just let it pass either. After all, we don’t know if these refugees have been used by someone. If there are assassins hiding among them, your safety will not be guaranteed, and I’m not at ease with that.”
Upon hearing Fu Yun's words, Zhi Lan's expression softened somewhat: "It's alright, I have my own plans. You wait here..."
Before Zhilan could finish speaking, Fu Yun quickly declared, "I have a plan. See if it's feasible."
Zhilan's expression shifted slightly, her interest piqued: "Tell me about it."
Fu Yun approached Zhi Lan and whispered something in her ear.
Zhilan was slightly taken aback after hearing this, and then she couldn't help but laugh and cry: "You and I are thinking the same thing."
As she walked forward, she explained, "I know that some people are deliberately inciting the refugees' emotions, so I don't intend to have a direct confrontation with them."
Fu Yun felt embarrassed and touched her nose: "So you already had a plan."
I inexplicably felt like I was showing off my skills in front of Guan Yu (a legendary Chinese swordsman), ah, how embarrassing.
He seems a bit arrogant and self-important.
As the ruler of a country, Zhilan possesses both superior intelligence and martial prowess. How could she possibly act without a plan?
You can't be so eager to show off next time; you need to be more careful in everything you do.
Don't you humans have a saying, "Those who are of one mind understand each other perfectly"? This proves that you two have a great understanding!
Fu Yun: "You've finally learned to be sweet-talking and said something sensible."
You praised me too soon; I hadn't finished speaking yet!
Fu Yun: "?"
[You humans have a saying, "A peacock spreading its tail feathers," right? That's the impression you give off right now—you're single-mindedly trying to show your most impressive side to your sweetheart, hoping to impress her with your abilities and wisdom.]
Fu Yun: "..." I can't have too much hope for you. It's more worthwhile to take back what I said earlier.
Hehe, what's said can't be taken back. Words spoken are like water spilled; there's no way to retrieve them!
Fu Yun snorted coldly and ignored Xiao Ba.
Seeing that Fu Yun seemed to be deep in thought again, Zhi Lan didn't want to linger and took his wrist: "Come on, let's avoid the main gate and go in through the side gate."
Fu Yun pulled himself out of his thoughts and followed Zhi Lan around to an inconspicuous area on the side of the city wall, until they were far away from the hustle and bustle of the crowd and stopped in front of a hidden door.
This place is heavily guarded, clearly a very important checkpoint.
Fu Yun knew that ancient city gates would have a small gate, usually called a side gate, which was only used in emergency or special circumstances.
As soon as someone approached, Cheng Menwei coldly questioned, "Who goes there?"
The guard took two steps forward, quickly took out the token from his waist, and handed it to the other party for inspection.
Chengmen Wei trembled upon seeing the token, his face filled with shock. He immediately knelt down to pay his respects, but Zhilan coldly said, "No need for formalities. Time is of the essence. We'll go in first. You all continue to guard the area and must not be careless."
"Yes, sir," Cheng Menwei replied respectfully.
After entering through the side gate, the three of them went straight up the stone steps leading to the city gate.
Just before they were about to step off the stone steps, Fu Yun stopped Zhi Lan: "Wait a minute, let's switch clothes."
Zhilan paused, her gaze falling intently on Fu Jun's face: "I know what you're thinking, but I won't allow that to happen."
Fu Yun explained while taking off her clothes, "It's just to distract everyone, nothing unexpected will happen."
Zhilan pressed Fu Jun's hand down, her tone leaving no room for doubt: "You don't need to say anything more. Since I have promised to protect you for the rest of my life, I will not let you fall into danger."
After saying that, she gently pushed away Fu Jun's arm that was blocking her way and stepped onto the city wall.
When the guards on the city wall saw someone coming up, they were about to come forward with their weapons when Guard Fang showed her waist token again.
The guards were startled by the sight and were about to kneel down in respect when Zhilan stopped them, saying, "There's no need for that. Solving the immediate problem is the most important thing."
After saying that, Zhilan said no more and went to stand in front of the city tower.
Fang, the guard, whispered to the guards, "Don't worry about us, just do your jobs."
"Yes." The guards quickly returned to their positions.
Fu Yun quickly caught up with Zhi Lan, stood beside her, and looked down at the refugees below the city wall.
Fortunately, Zhilan was standing on a very high position on the city tower. Even if someone wanted to ambush her, they would have to see if she had the ability. At such a high position, only a top expert with such powerful archery skills could achieve that.
No wonder Zhilan chose to go up to the city wall; although it was in the open, it was quite safe.
The refugees below the city wall were still arguing heatedly with the city gate guards. Most of them, though pale and malnourished, did not appear emaciated or frail like typical refugees. Instead, a small group of people standing far away, waiting, looked sallow-faced, with sunken eyes and prominent cheekbones. They were skin and bones and seemed too weak to join the chaos. They just stared longingly at the city gate, their eyes filled with the desire to survive.
Fu Jun sighed inwardly; these were probably the refugees who were truly in dire straits.
As expected, his and Guard Fang's concerns were not unfounded; these people who came to cause trouble in front of the city gate must have been organized and had a purpose.
Could it be to distract the court officials and prevent them from focusing on uncovering their secret passages?
They must have heard rumors that the imperial court was secretly investigating the identities of outsiders, so they thought of using refugees to sneak into the city. That way, their identities wouldn't be so easy to find out, and they would have more time to operate.
But are these people really connected to spies? Or is this another force deliberately taking this opportunity to infiltrate the court, making it difficult for the court to figure out their identities or their true purpose?
Thinking that all these things were aimed at Zhilan, Fu Yun felt even more sorry for Zhilan's hardships.
Zhilan is not the kind of person who stops when faced with danger. He currently has no better solution and can only take it one step at a time, closely monitoring the refugees' every move.
"Everyone, please calm down."
As Fu Yun pondered, Zhi Lan spoke up loudly: "I am the head of the household here, and I will handle any problems properly."
"It's not that we're preventing you from entering the city today, but the city has been unsafe these past few days. A death row inmate escaped from his cell a couple of days ago and is carrying out a frenzied act of revenge within the city. Five or six people have already lost their lives. Letting you in now would not be helping you, but rather putting you in danger. Therefore, please wait here patiently. Once the authorities have apprehended the criminal, we will open the city gates and welcome you."
Soon someone shouted from below the city wall, "How do we know if you're telling the truth?"
"Exactly, it's too much of a coincidence that a death row inmate escaped as soon as we arrived."
"Isn't that right? Could it be that the death row inmate escaping from prison is your excuse to stop us from entering the city?"
Zhilan didn't waste any words with them, and said firmly, "You'll know whether it's true or false at a glance."
As soon as she finished speaking, two guards from the city gate appeared below the city wall, took out two portraits of wanted criminals, and spread them out to show the refugees one by one.
Fu Jun glanced sideways at Guard Fang, her eyes questioning.
Guard Fang nodded, lowered his voice, and silently mouthed, "What you say is true, Master."
Fu Yun secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Zhi Lan was indeed wise and resourceful enough; this was the perfect time to announce the matter.
This incident was very damaging to the image of the imperial court, so as an ordinary citizen, he was completely unaware of it.
It's likely that the government didn't want to cause panic, which is why they didn't make it public.
After seeing the portrait, the city dwellers below the city gate became much quieter, clearly believing it to be about 80-90%.
"Even so, we've come all this way through so much trouble, we can't just let ourselves starve to death outside the city, can we?"
"We are starving to death. If we had no other choice, we would not want to leave the place where we were born and raised. Please, sir, have mercy and give us some food."
"I don't want to die, please, give us some food!"
Wei, standing below the city gate, reassured everyone, "Don't be afraid, everyone. Our lord has already arranged for people to buy food, and we will distribute some dry rations to everyone later so that everyone can fill their stomachs."
Upon hearing this, some of the refugees knelt down, saying, "Thank you for your mercy, sir."
However, some people raised questions: "We have food, but where will we stay?"
"The autumn frost and dew are cold. If we have nowhere to stay at night and catch a cold, what will we do? Where will we get the money to see a doctor? In the end, we'll all just be heading for death anyway."
Zhilan frowned, a cold glint flashing in her eyes, but she quickly calmed down and turned to look at Fu Jun: "Before we came, you said you had a way to resettle the refugees?"
Fu Jun nodded: "Yes, and they can go wherever you want them to go."
Zhilan's eyes widened in surprise: "Such a strange thing?"
Fu Jun said confidently, "There are many strange things in this world, we just need to discover them."
Zhilan curled her lips into a smile, her beautiful eyes sparkling with laughter: "Tell me! What do you need me to provide?"
Fu Yun liked Zhi Lan's keenness; she always managed to grasp the key points.
"I need preservative-treated timber, as well as the assistance of carpenters and bricklayers."
Zhilan said, "No problem."
Fang, the guard, exchanged a few words with the guards on the city wall. The guards nodded and immediately went down to make the arrangements.
"My lord, is this a situation where you have nothing more to say?"
The troublemakers below the city gate started shouting again.
"Why does Your Excellency stand on the city wall? Wouldn't it be more convenient to talk to us face to face?"
"Sir, are you perhaps ashamed to face us?"
Guard Fang's face darkened, and he angrily rebuked, "Insolence! How dare you show such disrespect to our lord? Do you have a death wish?"
The man began in a sarcastic tone: "Oh! Look at everyone, he gets angry after just a few words. Did I hit the nail on the head?"
Fu Yun took two steps forward, her voice firm and resolute: "We adults are concerned about your hard work and poverty, which is why we wanted to help you out of your predicament. Instead of being grateful, you're here hurling insults at us. Have you lost your conscience, or have you lost it yourself? If you don't want to be saved, just say so. There's no need to drag other people who are genuinely asking for help into this mess."
"Especially those of you who rushed to the front, what exactly is your purpose in repeatedly stirring up trouble?"
"Don't think that kind people are easy to bully. It's not our obligation to help you, but because we have the responsibility to protect the people in this area. If you really have any backbone, go find your local officials to resolve this, instead of coming here to cause trouble."
“What that young man said makes sense. It’s already very kind of the master to give us food. Please don’t make things difficult for him.”
"Exactly, someone who repays kindness with enmity is no good person."
The men immediately put out the fire and hid among the refugees behind them.
Zhilan stared at Fu Jun for a long time, her eyes swirling with emotions, which gradually faded into calm after a moment.
She called out to the crowd, "You can all rest assured, you will not be sleeping outdoors."
Author's note: Guess what President Fu is planning to do?
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